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VP debate: Conventional wisdom no oxymoron

Sometimes the conventional wisdom actually turns out to be correct.That seems to be the case with Thursday’s junior varsity scrimmage between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.As registered by a CNN poll and by the consensus of most expert observers without sharp axes to grind, the clash of No. 2s was roughly a draw. Despite some dodging and fancy footwork with the facts by both Biden and Ryan, each accomplished what he needed to do.Biden was aggressive, often funny, and free of the major gaffes that have marred many of his public appearances.Despite rudeness that perhaps turned off some independent voters, he did well enough to blunt any perception that his ticket’s sliding downhill.His retort, “That is a bunch of malarkey,” might have been the most memorable line of the night.The view that momentum had shifted toward the GOP was widespread after President Barack Obama’s recent lackluster performance against Republican standard bearer Mitt Romney. It’s likely much less widespread after Thursday.Most importantly, Biden did a better job than Ryan – and a better one than his boss in the first debate – of credibly portraying his party as the vanguard of the middle class.In short, he served up what the Democratic base hungered for.But, in his first appearance on the national debate state, Ryan also shined.Especially on foreign affairs, supposedly Biden’s forte, Ryan seemed to at least hold his own. And on the thorny issues of Medicare and taxes, he didn’t wilt under fire from the vice president.He partially deflected slams on Romney’s remarks this spring about the “47 percent” he claimed don’t pay income taxes and rely on federal largesse.The vice president “very well knows that sometimes the words don’t come out of your mouth the right way,” Ryan countered, referring to Biden’s many verbal slips.Lastly, whatever you think of Ryan’s views on Medicare, the label Democrats have tried to pin on him didn’t stick very well.Viewers mostly didn’t see him as an ogre ready to toss Grandma under the bus. Indeed, they told CNN pollsters they found him more likeable than Biden.All in all, it was an entertaining and sometimes informative evening.But not nearly as consequential a one as it might have been. For that, we’ll have to wait at least until Obama and Romney face off again on Tuesday night in New York.Will it be lively? Who knows?But Biden and Ryan proved that it can be.